


Search in each of your tomorrows

by blue_cage (zhyn)



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Community: blind_go, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-03-06
Updated: 2012-03-06
Packaged: 2017-11-01 13:31:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/357357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhyn/pseuds/blue_cage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Touya is the son of a temple's priest, and Shindou is a boy with no luck. Written for blind_go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Search in each of your tomorrows

The Amakusa shrine is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in the Kanto region. Much smaller than the more famous Asakusa Shrine, its secluded location made it a quiet retreat in the middle of the bustling city. But the serenity was broken in the kitchen where a boy was ranting about what came with the morning paper.

"Ridiculous!" Touya Akira exclaimed, resisting the urge to crumple the magazine in his hands. Instead, he threw it down on the table, refusing to acknowledge the existence of this article. His father's disciple picked it up, curious. "I know we wanted more patrons, but did they have to use my pictures to sell the temple?"

Ogata looked up from the bright lettering littering the article, the half-page spread of Touya in front of the temple, lighting incense right before one of the iron incense burner at the front of the shrine. Ogata snorted. "Well, they say any advertising is good, even if it's definitely for high school girls. I think it's appealing to young women to see that not all Shinto priests are old and wrinkled."

Touya groaned. "I thought you would see past the sparkles and notice how the whole thing reads like advertising for good-luck charms and couples!"

"You just don't want the temple to be overrun by hormonal teenagers and Christmas cake OLs trying to snag a husband." Touya sighed. The older man was good at rubbing salt into his wounds. "Incidentally, there have been requests from various high schools to add the temple to their field trip itinerary. I wonder why."

Touya buried his head in his hands, the image overwhelming him with despair. "Ogata-san, I will shave my head and go through a walking pilgrimage before you can get me to be their tour guide."

"It wouldn't be that bad, Akira-kun. As the heir to the temple, you will have to marry, you know. Better start searching for a prospective bride while young, you never know how long it'll take for you to find someone among our progressive young women."

He had enough. Now that Ogata has this, he wouldn't stop his teasing. "I am going out to sweep the courtyard, and if any of those progressive young women show up, I will point them over to you. Good luck."

He performed his duties with enthusiasm, working off his annoyance with the chore. Of course Ogata wouldn't understand; no doubt he'll enjoy having all the women around the temple, he thought. Ogata was just that sort of person.

He paused, looking up. It was almost autumn, and the faint sunlight filtering through the trees calmed him further. It was a brief respite from what will surely be busy season. Today was that sort of day where nothing was going to happen, and Touya was glad.

***

Kaga Tetsuo looked up, and up, at the two hundred or so steps leading to the shrine. Anyone else would have seen the steps as a weary trudge up, but Kaga only saw it as an opportunity. "Well, this seems like the perfect time for training, Shindou."

His companion eyed the steps with the same speculative glint in his eyes. "Are we gonna race to the top?" he asked.

"When is training not a race?"

Shindou's grin rivaled the sun in its brilliance. "You're on!"

It was a sight to see two young men sprinting up the temple, narrowly avoiding the slower-moving visitors with a quick, "Sorry, coming through!" Kaga had longer legs, but Shindou's stamina won out, and he flopped down right before the torii, gasping for air as he watched his senior take the last few dozen steps two at a time.

It was truly different here in the temple. The sounds of civilization were hushed by the rustling leaves, and were it not for the visitors in modern clothing, Shindou would have thought he had been transported to a different time.

"You're so slow, sempai," he managed to say between deep breaths. Someone coughed softly behind him, and he sat up, startled. He turned, and found a young man dressed in traditional temple gear.

"Oh, hello!"

"We don't encourage visitors to use the temple gates as a resting spot." The young man rested his chin on his hand, leaning lightly on the broom. He was looking down at the sweaty athlete with something close to distaste.

Shindou laughed sheepishly. "Sorry. We couldn't resist those steps. These are perfect for cardio training, did you know that?"

"I wouldn't know," the other boy said. Shindou's friendly smile vanished.

Kaga finally caught up. He bent over, catching his breath. When he finally straightened he stared at the young temple attendant. "Wait - it's you, isn't it? Touya Akira?"

The young man paused, looking at Kaga intently, then asked, "Kaga-san?"

"Oh, you still remember me! Great."

"Sempai?"

"I used to train here. My father thought training in a temple or a shrine would make me stronger," Kaga explained. "That was before I found soccer, of course. How's it doing, Touya?"

"We've been doing well actually."

"Touya, this is a junior from my high school soccer team, Shindou Hikaru. Shindou, this is Touya Akira. His family's been here for generations. The place looks exactly like how I remembered it."

"It's like a totally different world here," Shindou agreed.

"I saw the article the other day," Kaga said, and Touya winced in reflex. "Hey, except for the horrible sparkles, it was a good read. And it reminded me of stuff about the temple. That's why we're here."

"I don't think you came here to train again."

"We came here for your father's help, Touya." Kaga lightly inclined his head to Shindou's direction, and Touya nodded.

"Let me take you inside then."

Kaga and Shindou were mindful of the customary etiquette. Now recovered from the run, they bowed before the torii and paused by the water basin reserved to purify visitors before entering the temple. They bowed before the offering hall, and Touya, used to the rhythms and routines of the temple denizens, led them unerringly to one of the smaller rooms.

The head priest was done with his afternoon rituals, and the scent of incense was heavy in the air. "Father, Kaga-san and his kohai are here to consult you. Do you remember Kaga? He trained here before."

His father nodded, "Of course I remember Kaga-kun. What can I do for you?"

After a few pleasantries and introductions, Kaga began, "This is Shindou Hikaru. He's a member of the Haze high school soccer team with me. My kohai here has been having a run of serious bad luck, and we kind of want to see how to get rid of it."

"Bad luck is not something we usually deal with in a shrine," Touya senior said.

"I wish it was as simple as plain bad luck, but people are being hurt, so we thought we could try anything to get rid of it."

"Why don't you tell us about it, Shindou-kun?"

Shindou began talking in a cool, impersonal tone, as if he was telling someone else's story. "I should start by telling you about my cousin Sai. He was an orphan and had lived with my parents since he was five. He was around eight when I was born, and we were raised as practically brothers. He never told me not to trail after him. He was a great person, taught me soccer too. He was the best friend you could ever have. He cared for everyone who ever met him.

"It started soon after my cousin passed away due to an accident in my second year in middle school. Akari, a close neighbor fell from the stairs on the way to one of my games and broke her leg. A few months later my mom has fallen ill but she recovered quickly enough. I chalked it up to coincidence, but then when Mitani, who's my training partner, nearly got run over while jogging, I started to wonder. A girl who confessed to me was mugged on her way home. People have started avoiding me in school, and were it not for the rest of the soccer team, I might've dropped out. The only one who hasn't been hurt is Kaga-sempai and Tsutsui-sempai, and that's why he came with me today."

"So the people who want to get close to you get hurt?"

"Yeah, sort of. But as I said, Kaga-sempai hasn't had any major accidents since that time, considering we play soccer nearly everyday."

His father looked down at Shindou. "Bad luck, is it?" he murmured. After a long time he said, "My son Akira will be studying your situation, and then we'll see how we will proceed with the case. Do you mind visiting our temple every week to tell us about things that happened around you, Shindou-kun?"

Shindou shrugged. "It'll be great training going up and down those steps."

"Good. I need to speak to my son about this for a short while. Kaga -kun, why don't you show Shindou around? Some of the boys you've trained with are still here in the temple."

With the doors closed, the room dimmed considerably.

Touya shifted from seiza. "Should I be the one helping them, father?"

"If it turns out to be nothing more than bad luck, you are more than suited for it."

"And if it was something else?"

His father gave him one of his rare smiles. "It's something to keep you occupied while the temple receives the visitors."

Touya couldn't argue. He wanted to avoid as many of those high school trips as possible. Anyway, if this was really a case of bad luck, he shouldn't have any problems getting rid of it. Though no one outside of the temple knew, he had a gift for removing bad luck with his touch. He bowed to his father and left the room.

He stepped back, startled. Shindou was waiting for him outside. "Hey, I forgot to ask you for your phone number."

"My phone number?"

"Well, just to make sure you're here when I come by." Shindou handed his phone over, and the yellow and black soccer ball charm swung freely as Touya punched in his phone number and email. Even with his limited acquaintance it was just like Shindou to have proof of his obsession.

"I'll mail you later. Nice meeting you, Touya."

"Yes, you too."

***

Shindou became a weekly visitor, usually stopping by Saturday afternoons after practice. The other residents of the shrine grew to accept this new development, and Akiko, his mother, made snacks in anticipation.

Shindou was back again, talking about stuff that happened in school while feasting on dango. Touya looked just above Shindou's shoulder, and stared. There was a faint white presence right behind him.

He blinked. The presence vanished, and Shindou's worried stare came into view. "What?"

"You were kinda spacing out."

"I'm not!"

"Sure, Touya."

He decided to change the subject. "I'm glad Kaga-san allows you to take time off from practice."

"Oh, Kaga-sempai likes to keep Saturday training light. I think he goes on dates right afterward. Hey, Touya, can we get you down from your temple next Saturday?"

"Why's that?"

"Your mom thinks you need some sunshine."

"I get plenty of exercise at the temple."

"Come on, it should be fun! Wear sneakers, okay?"

"Sneakers?"

"Yeah. I guess you have those, right?"

Suspicious, he asked, "You're not going to pull me into your training routine, are you?"

"Nope. I don't think you're up to playing soccer in a big field anyway."

He sighed. Shindou could be a force of nature sometimes. "Fine."

***

They met up at Omotesando the next week. Shindou groaned when he was what Touya was wearing. "Sneakers, jeans, and a dress shirt? Don't you have anything a little bit more casual?"

Touya shook his head. "I'm more of the dressy type?"

"I'm going to find you a decent shirt, come on."

Thirty minutes later, Touya walked out of the store in a blue shirt, his white dress shirt now unbuttoned. Shindou had persuaded him to buy the huge newsboy cap covering his hair, and he looked down ruefully on the studded blue and green belt with dangling chains. "I jingle when I walk," he complained.

"You do not!" Shindou laughed. "You look cool, Touya."

It was Shindou who looked cool, Touya reflected sourly. The other boy was at ease in his yellow and black jersey and khaki shorts. His yellow and black trainers sported brand name logos. Touya ruffled his hair, smiling faintly. "Not everyone has your taste in clothes, Shindou."

"Don't mess with my hair! Geez, Touya!"

"Where are we going?" he asked for the nth time, and Shindou laughed as he led the way to the elevator.

"You just have to wait and see."

"There's nothing in the roof."

"There's something!"

Something was an understatement. More than half of the building's roof deck was a green hard court, white curves and lines crisscrossing the green. Some people were casually kicking a small soccer ball, passing it in a circle. Kaga waved

"They converted it to a futsal court last spring. Come on, I'll introduce you to the team."

"Hey. Meet Mitani, Kaga, Tsutsui and Kishimoto from my soccer team, and then these are Miwa, Koshima, Itou and Kuno are from your school, Kaio. You'll be playing for our team though."

"Shindou, I don't play futsal, and you know that."

"Well, you must've played soccer for PE. You're also in good company. Tsutsui's our manager. Only Miwa and Koshima are from their soccer team, so we're pretty much just playing for fun. We'll make you our goal keeper and keep the ball from coming your way."

Touya huffed. "Fine."

Kishimoto walked to Touya. He knew the 3rd year, because Kishimoto was a member of the student council. "Funny you play for Haze, Touya-kun."

He shrugged. "If it helps I didn't know I was going to play futsal today."

Kishimoto smiled. "Well, Haze is always full of surprises."

They began the game in earnest. Shindou held true to his promise, and for the next twenty minutes kept the ball on the opposite side of the field as he could. Touya watched him in his element, and thought, Shindou shouldn't be cursed by bad luck. He attracted people with his enthusiasm for life, and it probably hurt the other boy to have to worry about getting people close to him.

Shindou made a goal, and he waved to Touya as the rest cheered. Touya waved back, smiling. He really should do something about the curse. He decided to speak to Kaga about this afterwards.

**

He met up with Kaga the following week after practice. Shindou had gone home, which was all well and good. He didn't want the other boy to hear what they were going to talk about.

"Do you have any idea why you've never been hurt by this curse, Kaga-san?"

Kaga fiddled with the straps of his bag. "I do, but if I tell you, you'll probably laugh."

"As the person assigned by my father to remove the curse, I don't think any idea would make me laugh."

"I think that the people who get hurt are the people who put Shindou first in their hearts. It's only a guess, and a bad guess at that, but I have my reasons."

"Hm." It was pretty close to Touya's suspicions, but he stayed silent.

"Shindou shouldn't have to go through this, you know? He's a good kid with lots of potential to keep playing soccer."

Touya nodded.

Tsutsui appeared at the door. "Kaga, Akira-kun. What are you doing here?"

"Closing up. Are you done?"

"Yeah. Let me just put the notes in the lockers. We'll walk you to the station, Akira-kun. Wait outside for a bit?"

There was a slight nip in the night air. Touya crossed his arms, tucking his hands to hide them from the cold. He saw the club lights go off through the windows, and waited. It was a few minutes before Kaga and Tsutsui emerged from the club room. Kaga had both their schoolbags under his arm. "Ready? Let's go!"

Touya watched, and felt no surprise when Kaga slid an arm around the smaller boy's shoulder. That explained Kaga's and Tsutsui's immunity. Somehow he wasn't surprised.

He got home late. He'd forgotten how far Haze was from Kaio. Touya pushed the screen to his room, and then he realized there was a strange presence waiting for him.

Before he could react, he was knocked unconscious.


End file.
